California recorded a domestic net loss of about 29,000 people last year – the first negative flow of residents since the mid-1990s. The biggest recent loss was in 1994, when the sputtering state economy helped California lose about 350,000 residents to the other 49 states.

That’s fine. We didn’t want those people any way. They’re
probably all jealous renters. And as we all know, renters are like vermin – they make life bad for wholesome debtors owners who are dutifully fulfilling their roles in buying and/or selling houses.

Stephen Gallant moved to Michigan this summer after nearly three years in the posh Silicon Valley suburb of Los Gatos, trading a $2 million house for one in a Detroit suburb that was about half the cost and double the size.

—
“If I’m going to spend $1 million on a house as opposed to $2 million, that opens up a lot of purchasing power, the ability to go out and do other things,” he said.

Begone Stephen Gallant! We didn’t need you anyway! California is special – and if you can’t realize that, then you don’t deserve us. Good lucking finding smart people or sunlight there in Michigan!
Here’s a surprise finding though:

In previous decades, waves of departing Californians were primarily white. But the newest exodus includes unprecedented numbers of Hispanics, primarily Mexican-Americans.

The analysis by Hans Johnson, a demographer with the Public Policy Institute of California, found that about 320,000 more Hispanics left California than arrived from other states between 2000 and 2005.

Asians were the only ethnic group to have more people move into California than leave, according to Johnson.

The state gained nearly 33,000 Asians from elsewhere in the United States from 2000 to 2005 while losing 441,000 whites and 67,000 African-Americans.

This can only mean one thing: Castro Street in Mountain View will have even more Thai restaurants.

But it is No. 11. A renter would need to make $24.69 an hour, or more than $51,000 a year, to afford the rent for a basic two-bedroom apartment in the San Jose area, an annual survey from the National Low Income Housing Coalition found. Minimum wage in California is $6.75 an hour.

Oh Noes! We’re only 11th!!

Quick! We need more apartment->condo conversions to help boost these prices. If we fall any further, we won’t be as special!

Shown below are the projected 2007 fair market rent (FMR) and the “housing wage” for several counties. The housing wage measures how much a worker would have to earn per hour to afford a two-bedroom rental without spending more than 30 percent of income on housing.

That’s actually pretty darn cheap. People who rent should be required to pay a special “Non-homeowners Tax” – because… well… they’re not buying/selling houses. And if you’re not helping house prices go up – you’re not helping your neighbors. And no one likes an unfriendly neighbor!

What can we do… what can we do.

Fortunately, the areas around us are still properly expensive according to this list:

Comparable homes in his neighborhood fetch more than $400,000. With fresh paint and a few repairs, Hertzberg could probably sell his place for $275,000 more than he paid.

He would see little of that, however, because he’s already seen so much. Over the years he has taken out $190,000 in cash through refinancings.

Hertzberg’s home equity paid off his credit cards, financed trips around the world that allowed him to indulge his passion for photography, bought a $32,000 Toyota Avalon and enabled some lousy investments. He bought dot-com stocks and lost money. To recoup those losses, he bought commodities — and lost money faster.

“Free money always has the unfortunate effect of making people go overboard,” said Hertzberg, whose living room is strewn with financial publications including American Cash Flow Journal and Donald Trump’s “How to Get Rich.” “You’d be surprised how fast $190,000 can go.”

The money wasn’t really free, of course. It just seemed that way, the result of a radical shift during the last decade in how people view their homes.

“Homeownership has become like auto leasing, where the price of the car doesn’t matter,” said Rick Soukoulis, chief executive of LoanCity, a San Jose lender that funded $7 billion in mortgages in 2005. “All that matters is the size of your monthly payment.”

Lenders say these new loans are all about payment choice, but Hertzberg is far from the only borrower who invariably chooses the smallest payment option. Washington Mutual Inc., which has one of the nation’s largest portfolios of pay option loans, said 47% of its borrowers in this category last December took the minimum option.

Few people intend to become deeper in debt every month. Hertzberg certainly didn’t.

“I assumed my future and my retirement would be taken care of by the company I worked for,” he said. “I trusted corporate America.”

He used to make a six-figure income selling vacation packages to corporations that would use them as customer incentives and employee bonuses. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the business soured.

His current sources of income include selling comic books on EBay and freelance photos to golf and travel publications. “Once you’re over 55, what employer wants to hire you?” he asked. “I’m a dinosaur.”

Moral of the story: when you make over $100,000 – don’t extract equity from your house to buy cars and fancy trips. Use it to buy another house because housing always go up!

A loan that’ll get ugly fast – Los Angeles Times
In 2003, only about 8 of every 1,000 people buying a home or refinancing a mortgage in California got a pay option loan, according to San Francisco-based data tracking company First American LoanPerformance.

Last year, 1 in 5 loan applicants got one.

In the first eight months of 2006, even as the real estate market began to weaken amid fears of a downturn, the appeal increased again. Nearly 1 in 3 California loan applicants are now choosing them. The state boasts about 580,000 active pay option mortgages, about half the U.S. total.

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTT!

We’re NUMBER 1! We’re NUMBER 1! We’re NUMBER 1!

Take that rest of the nation. We’re California – we’re special and you’re not. Hah! Just try to catch up with our option/smart/negam loan numbers!

Because of the drag from a slowdown in home building, the most populous U.S. state’s economy will grow by 3.2 percent next year, compared with 4.3 percent in 2006, according to the report by Union Bank of California economist Keitaro Matsuda.

[snip]

Meanwhile, California’s “service-sector growth engine remains well oiled and strong. That’s why overall employment growth is projected to continue in 2007, although at a somewhat slower rate than this year,” according to Matsuda’s report.

“Unless the health of the housing market takes a sudden turn for the worse, the service sector engine alone should be able to carry the California economy nicely through 2007,” his report added.

That was a close call. Thankfully, everything is back to being good. But let’s be extra sure – do you part and help out! Remember what the Realtor says: “It’s a great time to buy or sell a home.”
again.

This year, there were 391 requests to switch to Mountain View High, a trend that cannot be sustained according to Mountain View-Los Altos School District officials. During the same period, only 180 students requested a move to Los Altos High.

The number of transfer requests to Mountain View has risen steadily over the past several years, a cause of concern because both schools are nearing maximum capacity. In addition, district officials say, very few students will be granted transfers in the years to come due to both schools reaching that maximum. The transfers are granted on a first-come, first-served basis.

So why all these transfer requests?

Part of the larger perception about the two high schools may be that Mountain View High is considered safer than Los Altos. While this reason has never been officially listed in a transfer request, Sarraf said that an informal survey she conducted resulted in several people telling her they believed the perception to be true.But both Sarraf and Superintendent Barry Groves said that it isn’t.

“It’s not accurate in terms of our statistics. The schools are almost identical” in terms of safety, Groves explained.

Ah, safety. But that’s interesting that parents think one is better when they’re both the same. Let’s just take a look at the median home prices:

This place is being advertised on Craigslist as a 2 bedroom rental. Interesting that the for-sale description was “one legal bedroom, plus three bonus rooms.” I don’t even know what that means. I’m intrigued that they can squeeze all that (legal or not) into 480 square feet.

This Bungalow style home is located in East Palo Alto. This cozy home is conveniently located near shopping and transportation and the trendy University Avenue area.

The home has 2 bedroom and 1 Bathroom plus a bonus cottage. The House also has been fully remodeled with new paint, granite counter tops, and a large front yard patio.
• Pets are negotiable. • Lease negotiable • AVAILIBLE NOW • Security Deposit $1300.00 Please Drive by unit and take a look. If you have any questions please feel free to call 650 814 9666 or reply to this add.

There’s a guest house? For a house that has 480 sqft?? Is the guest house for a car perhaps?
But even more interesting is the rent: $1300 a month. Yet the sales price is $499,000 a month.

Let’s ignore property tax, maintenance and insurance – just like everyone else. Just think of the big fat juicy tax break you’ll get on this. And when you sell in 5 years, this will be a million dollar house – so you’ll definitely make back the $62k that you’ve lost by buying.

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